Magazine: Spring 2012 | Volume 18, No. 3

2012 has been designated the "Alan Turning Year." Celebrations on both sides of the pond are being held to commemorate Alan Turing's legacy. His contributions to not only computer science, but society as well, are vast. In this special issue of XRDS, we explore what we mean by computation; consider the relevancy of Turing's work today; discuss computational complexity, while taking a detour into cryptography; and wrap up with what the future holds for computing. If Turing is the "Father of Computer Science,” we as his descendants must continue to push the boundaries of computing science.